Not even when they dragged out bags of bones and told us to move on. Not when the world turned cold and tried to bury her memory under a pile of lies.
So, no, I’m not handing this to them.
Not when they broke faith.
Not when they stoppedseeingher.
Then I ask around, voice tight, jaw aching with how hard I’m clenching it.
But no one has anything useful.
“She reaches out when she wants a match,” some guy mumbles. “No name. No number. Just shows up.”
Of course she does.
A ghost.
A storm.
Untouchable. Untraceable.
But not from me.
Let her stay in the dark. Let them keep mourning the girl theythinkis dead. Because if that was her in that ring… My Pixie’s alive. And this time, I’m not letting anyone—not my brothers, not fate, not fire—keep her from me.
Chapter Seven
Berkley
I’m gonna blow this entire goddamn mission. And for what? Because I needed to blow off some steam?
Stupid.
Ronan never shows up early. Not to anything. Ten minutes before a fight? That’s his style. Walk in, fuck shit up, walk out.
But tonight?
He’s herehoursearly.
And the second I spotted him prowling along the edges of the underground like he owns the place, my pulse starts to hammer.
I’m in the middle of my third match—my fist slamming into the jaw of some beast of a guy hard enough that the impact rattles all the way up my elbow—and despite all of that, I still see him.
Across the room. Locked in.
He hears the crowd chanting my stage name, and his head snaps toward the cage like a fucking bloodhound catching a scent and then starts moving. Deliberate. Focused. Straight for me.
He doesn’t know it’s me. Not yet. The disguise throws everyone. That’s the point. But he’s intrigued. I can feel it. Eachtime someone shouts my name, his head turns like a damn compass needle drawn to the storm.
And every time the noise swells, I see it—that look in his eyes.
Curious. Calculating. Almost reverent.
He’s trying to make contact. Trying to read what’s behind the cage, behind the mask, behind the chaos. And I’m not ready for that.
God, I am not ready for that.
Because if he finds out it’s me… if heknowswho he’s looking at… I don’t know what I’ll do.